Shocking 'Dis'Honour Killing: Brother Beheads Sister

Mehtab Alam decapitated his sister Nilofer with a sword and walked into the local police station to surrender.

In a shocking incident of honour killing in Kolkata ,a brother beheaded his sister for having an extra-marital affair.29 year old Mehtab Alam decapitated his sister Nilofer with a sacrificial sword and walked into the local police station to surrender ,with her severed head in one hand and the bloody sword in the other, leaving her bleeding body on the street and a trail of blood on the road.

What was Nilofer's true crime? According to TOI, Nilofar, a mother of two who was married for eight years, had run away from her in-laws alleging torture. Two days later, she vanished from her paternal home, too, and Mehtab found out that she was living with a former lover, Firoz. Mehtab stormed into Firoz's home, dragged Nilofar out on the street and cut off her head, saying "she had sinned and had to be punished".

What is even worse?Where such ghastly actions should invite condemnation, it seems Mehtab Alam's ghoulish act has earned him the sympathy of his family, friends and neighbours."He followed the model code where a married woman cannot have an affair unless she gets a divorce. This perhaps got into Mehtab's head. So when he came to know that his married sister was living with another man, his blood boiled," Mehtab's uncle Samsuddin Mollah told TOI. The report states how he showed no remorse in the police lock-up all night and waved at relatives and the crowds who had gathered for a glimpse of him at Kolkata's Alipore court.

In fact, police officers were quite surprised to see him very relaxed in custody. "Somehow, he has started believing that he sacrificed his sister for the bigger purpose of saving his family from dishonour. So, he is the last man to believe that he has committed a medieval, barbaric act," said an investigating officer.

The gruesome act has shocked the city, with many traumatized residents of Ayubnagar, where the beheading took place, feigning ignorance to avoid discussion of the murder.